School lunches is a topic that has been discussed in schools since the invention of the cafeteria. Whether it is the taste, the quality, or the service, complaints about the school lunches have been very consistent in school environments.. What about the lunches here at Edison Intermediate School (EIS)? Do people like, hate, or even buy school lunch? Well that is what we were determined to figure out. The results from what we heard may surprise you.

You may think that most people would hate school lunches but that is very far from the case.  Sixth grade student Julia Copec stated, “My go-to order is pizza because it is good. I only get lunch on Mondays and Fridays because that is when I am the most tired. I don’t want to wake up and make lunch.” 

According to interviews, many people like Julia enjoy the school lunches and will get them multiple times per week. It isn’t just the sixth graders that enjoy the food, EIS math teacher Mr. Crutcher also weighed in, saying, “Your lunch is way better than when I was a kid.”

Eighth grade student Blake Desimone passionately stated, “I eat those lunches every single day.”

This illustrates how our school lunches have improved over the years and how it is much better than what many teachers had back in their day. Some people included suggestions on how to improve the school lunches. Sixth grade student James Steiman suggested, “I would make it so that the food changes every month from Italian to Indian to anything else.”

 This suggests that students can benefit from changes on the menu each month. If the menu would add one new specialty item focusing on a culture, students would benefit by trying new foods or enjoying food that is not typically on the menu. According to Oxford Academic, “Exposure to diverse foods from an early age increases food familiarity, which has been identified as a key influencer of children’s willingness to try new foods.”

Also the New Jersey (NJ) government is also making strides to make the school lunches more nutritious and healthy. According to usda.gov, “United States Department of Agriculture(USDA) is committed to ensuring school meals continue to provide the very best for our children, and we are working with schools, parents, industry, and other school meal partners every step of the way” (usda.gov). 

This shows how the government has come a long way to making school lunches better for every district in New Jersey. As eighth grader Patrick Smith explained, “There’s no way the lunches at school are healthy. I would rather just make my own lunch.”